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A woman has accused former Louisville, Kentucky cop Brett Hankison, who was charged in the Breonna Taylor case, of sexually assaulting her at a Kentucky bar where he also worked.
The woman, identified as Margo Borders in a lawsuit filed Tuesday, alleges that Hankison assaulted her after seeing her at the Tin Roof bar in April 2018, according to the lawsuit, which her lawyers provided to NBC News. Borders reportedly met Hankison in 2017 when she was 22 and the two had a mutual friend.
In 2018, Borders was meeting friends at Tin Roof, the bar where Hankison worked in security, and he told her to stay close to him, the lawsuit says. Hankison reportedly offered to take Borders home when she planned to leave.
“Margo had no objection to a policeman being brought home by a policeman,” says the trial. “She wouldn’t have to pay for an Uber and felt protected by an officer who made sure she got home safely.”
The lawsuit says Hankison invited himself to her apartment, where she left him on the sofa when she went to her room to change. Borders, drunk, fell asleep and did not return to the living room, according to the lawsuit.
“While Margo was unconscious, Hankison entered her bedroom, undressed, and willfully, intentionally, painfully and violently sexually assault Margo,” the lawsuit claims.
Borders previously said she did not immediately approach police with the allegations because she feared retaliation.
Hankison did not immediately return a phone call asking for comment Tuesday night. Cincinnati-based attorney Stew Mathews, who is representing Hankison in the Taylor case, told Louisville-based NBC News WAVE affiliate that he is not representing Hankison in the sexual assault trial.
Hankison came under scrutiny after Taylor, 26, a black woman, was killed in her apartment during a police raid in March. Hankison was fired in June for firing “indiscriminately and for no reason” with his gun, according to his termination letter. He was also indicted by a grand jury in September with gratuitous first degree endangerment; He pleaded not guilty.
Borders was one of two women who publicly accused Hankison of sexual misconduct in June after her name and photo attracted national media attention to the case. Louisville Police then said they were investigating the allegations of at least two women.
The Borders lawsuit accuses Hankison of engaging in a role model, using his “police uniform and side job at a nightclub as mechanisms to prey on innocent women.”
“Margo was physically injured, mentally horrified and remained in extreme emotional strain both as a result of the assault and the feeling that any effort made to hold Officer Hankison accountable for his actions would backfire,” indicates the trial.
The Louisville Metro Police Department’s public integrity unit previously cleared Hankison of two unrelated charges of sexual misconduct, the Courier-Journal reported in June. The investigations are mentioned in the Borders trial.
NBC News was unable to confirm the report.
Borders’ lawsuit also names former police chief Steve Conrad and five other officers, alleging they did not intervene in Hankison’s behavior. Sam Aguiar, a lawyer representing Borders, called Hankison “a predator of the worst kind.”
“The long-standing tolerance of this police department for sexual assault by its officers is disgusting,” Aguiar said in a statement Tuesday. “We intend to hold accountable anyone who has never reported or investigated Brett Hankison. Too many women in this community have suffered for too long.”
Aguiar also represents Kenneth Walker, Taylor’s boyfriend, who was with her in the apartment on the night of the March raid. Walker brought a civil action against the city of Louisville, its police department and others in the wake of the deadly raid.
The police department said it was unable to comment, citing an ongoing litigation over the sexual assault allegations.
A representative for Tin Roof Acquisition Company LLC said he was unaware of the lawsuit and declined to comment on Tuesday evening.
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